If I know one thing, I know we should imitate Christ. Most of the time I don't know how I should do that, let alone how others should.
Of what I understand about the AOANA controversy, I also don't know what to do with it. I only know that God dwells within the Church, I know the presence of the seraphim and the cherubim. I see our Holy Mother gazing down over us. The saints, many martyrs, who not only protested but died for the kingdom of heaven also look solemnly out. My priest comes and sits with us and teaches us. He tells my children he loves them, and blesses them. I often stand beside my godmother and sing ancient prayers.Then I know that I should be there.
We sing the Beatitudes at Divine Liturgy. These words are one of the most beautiful things we sing.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The bolded section we do not go on to sing, but look at what it says. We're persecuted. From within the Church it seems unbelieveable and stinks. But it's happening-and has happened, not only in the current AOANA controversy.
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
"And it gives light to all who are in the house." I wish that those who have a stronger understanding would guide those who don't. There are times when dissent is understandable and necessary, but those who are good lay people are left without stronger understanding. It's much harder to find your way to the house when it's dark inside and dark all around, when there is no light around. Christ saw the multitude, and he called them to himself and taught them. He didn't leave them to their own devices. Love in Christ extends to more people than those who are familiar and those who are like us, to those who make no sense to us and certainly to those in which we see a lack or a stumbling.
If we are to love our enemies, pray for them, sacrifice every comfort and personal gain to stand and be named righteous, even so far as to die willingly at the hand of persecuters, then what good is it to strike for the greener plain or the desert in times of trouble? What sort of sacrifice is required? Is it one of withdrawal, or one of suffering?
Then I have children. I'm not taking them out of the Church. The eccelesial politics are beyond them (partially beyond me!) and so there is no good in removing them.
So I don't know.
My mother in law talks all the time about the horrors of situational ethics. It's one of the things I agree with that she refers to alot.
Lord, have mercy upon the AOANA.
Here's a maybe unrelated quote I recently read that might be relevant or I just like it...or something: You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body. -C.S. Lewis
26 October 2010
22 October 2010
Rambling
Reading my sociology textbooks makes me wonder: is the resistance to Orthodox practices I have seen in some friends and even family members a result of the American idea of democracy? If democracy is the best, and greatest form as we are taught and adhere to, if the US is doing it right (as we are taught so carefully not to be communists or autocratic in any way), then a faith that doesn't specifically focus on the worth of the individual only is in opposition. I am not saying I think democracy is incorrect, I mean to say I was thinking about the differences between autocratic government and democratic government. The definitions of each are interesting to contrast, and just leaving paraklesis, having asked repeatedly that the Lord have mercy, I cannot help but think about this as it relates to the Church.
If classic democratic ideology says that an individual is born free, that they are not subject to the rule of others, and that the only legitimate basis for rule is consent to be ruled, and if America is regarded as a democratic society which is founded on classic democratic ideologies, then I see how it would be hard for some to accept Orthodoxy in fullness, especially in adulthood. When you have been taught it is correct to be an individual, free of rule, born with personal freedoms to do what you like, how hard it must be to look at Orthodoxy without fear. Orthodoxy does not revolve around one person, or their separate identity and worth alone, and constantly (thought not to the exclusion of the individual) looks toward that individual's value as a part of a larger Body.
Democracy is defined also in my text as "existing at the pleasure of the people and having no authority or purpose except as defined by the people". When combined with economic ideologies, the democratic ideology suffers, and so have the pleasures, purpose, and authority then become corrupted? I think it is safe to say that Protestant history shows this ideal of democracy, that the church exists for the pleasure of the people and largely has no authority or purpose except as defined by the people. If my thinking is anywhere close to any reality, then the teachings of Christ are also in opposition to classic democracy.
Just rambling. Back to the books. Pray for me.
If classic democratic ideology says that an individual is born free, that they are not subject to the rule of others, and that the only legitimate basis for rule is consent to be ruled, and if America is regarded as a democratic society which is founded on classic democratic ideologies, then I see how it would be hard for some to accept Orthodoxy in fullness, especially in adulthood. When you have been taught it is correct to be an individual, free of rule, born with personal freedoms to do what you like, how hard it must be to look at Orthodoxy without fear. Orthodoxy does not revolve around one person, or their separate identity and worth alone, and constantly (thought not to the exclusion of the individual) looks toward that individual's value as a part of a larger Body.
Democracy is defined also in my text as "existing at the pleasure of the people and having no authority or purpose except as defined by the people". When combined with economic ideologies, the democratic ideology suffers, and so have the pleasures, purpose, and authority then become corrupted? I think it is safe to say that Protestant history shows this ideal of democracy, that the church exists for the pleasure of the people and largely has no authority or purpose except as defined by the people. If my thinking is anywhere close to any reality, then the teachings of Christ are also in opposition to classic democracy.
Just rambling. Back to the books. Pray for me.
20 October 2010
silliness
Today I recieved a letter in the mail, quite an interesting letter. It seems I am to recieve $141.63 from Walgreens, where I worked over 4 years ago as an assistant manager. You must know, reader, that I only worked there nine months. The letter was in regards to my part of a settlement to females who worked in management positions from 2004 to 2009. Apparently, Walgreens was promoting male managers faster, and paying them more. They are putting out 17 million dollars to settle the suit- which I guess indicates that there was good evidence against the company.
I just started laughing reading the letter. I can tell you absolutely that this lawsuit is entirely believable and deserved. While a few hundred dollars is silly, and I don't care if I get it or not, thinking about working at retail management (when I was 19) in a place like Walgreens just makes shiver. The male managers WERE promoted faster, for several reasons. First, the most successful (profit-wise) Walgreens stores (at least at the time, in Memphis) are in the rougher neighborhoods. I thank God I wasn't shot working for the short time I did, because my store was held up 3 times when I was there, and shots fired each time. The store was burglarized on a grand scale 4 times, at night. The clientele and neighborhood was often less than friendly...I was encouraged to enter and exit the store with another employee only. Male managers are more of a threat, and therefore leave less of a vunerablity for such stores. Second reason male managers were more favored: they were more willing to give up their whole life for a high salary. Most of the managers I knew were alcoholics, and that was the least of their problems. I am not saying all of them, but most. Women, I suppose, aren't as likely to work nonstop at something like that, disregarding the other aspects of their life, like health and family.
I don't have to do anything to recieve a settlement. I don't have to make any statement, just having worked there as a female in management guarantees I recieve a settlement. I wouldn't make a statement if that was required, because honestly I was lucky and the job paid exceedingly more than a 19 year old just starting college should be making. My store manager was a good old guy, better than a lot of them, but he was still a mess. He told me when I quit (to stay home with my first baby which I had just found out I was having) that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. The biggest mistake of my life was quitting college so I could make lots of money at a job I didn't qualify for and have no idea how I got in the first place. He said what he did because I was the youngest female employee in the district, and he had pushed to get me hired and pushed me up for promotion. My pregnancy was unexpected and an annoyance. I endured many "you're ruinging your life" talks my two weeks notice before I quit. I honestly think he thought managing a store that had high profits was a great life accomplishment. He was one of the only managers I met with one wife (not divorced), but he was an alcoholic and had bad heart problems from the stress. Retail management is a nightmare and I am glad (no matter the pay) that I did not take that route in my life.
Go to your local pharmacist. Even if I do have some darn nice coffee mugs from the 1,000th store opening.
I just started laughing reading the letter. I can tell you absolutely that this lawsuit is entirely believable and deserved. While a few hundred dollars is silly, and I don't care if I get it or not, thinking about working at retail management (when I was 19) in a place like Walgreens just makes shiver. The male managers WERE promoted faster, for several reasons. First, the most successful (profit-wise) Walgreens stores (at least at the time, in Memphis) are in the rougher neighborhoods. I thank God I wasn't shot working for the short time I did, because my store was held up 3 times when I was there, and shots fired each time. The store was burglarized on a grand scale 4 times, at night. The clientele and neighborhood was often less than friendly...I was encouraged to enter and exit the store with another employee only. Male managers are more of a threat, and therefore leave less of a vunerablity for such stores. Second reason male managers were more favored: they were more willing to give up their whole life for a high salary. Most of the managers I knew were alcoholics, and that was the least of their problems. I am not saying all of them, but most. Women, I suppose, aren't as likely to work nonstop at something like that, disregarding the other aspects of their life, like health and family.
I don't have to do anything to recieve a settlement. I don't have to make any statement, just having worked there as a female in management guarantees I recieve a settlement. I wouldn't make a statement if that was required, because honestly I was lucky and the job paid exceedingly more than a 19 year old just starting college should be making. My store manager was a good old guy, better than a lot of them, but he was still a mess. He told me when I quit (to stay home with my first baby which I had just found out I was having) that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. The biggest mistake of my life was quitting college so I could make lots of money at a job I didn't qualify for and have no idea how I got in the first place. He said what he did because I was the youngest female employee in the district, and he had pushed to get me hired and pushed me up for promotion. My pregnancy was unexpected and an annoyance. I endured many "you're ruinging your life" talks my two weeks notice before I quit. I honestly think he thought managing a store that had high profits was a great life accomplishment. He was one of the only managers I met with one wife (not divorced), but he was an alcoholic and had bad heart problems from the stress. Retail management is a nightmare and I am glad (no matter the pay) that I did not take that route in my life.
Go to your local pharmacist. Even if I do have some darn nice coffee mugs from the 1,000th store opening.
18 October 2010
saints
Just thinking about my patron.
I'd like to be present at a Divine Liturgy that used the Liturgy of St. James. I have read that it was actually written by St. Cyril of Jerusalem, and while originally used in Jerusalem and Antioch before being replaced by the Liturgy of Sts. Basil and Chrysostom, it is used today primarily in Oriental churches, and only occasionally in Eastern churches. The Liturgy of St. James is, however, referred to as being one of the three Antiochene liturgies. I'd love to hear it, if I could find an Eastern church using it. Is this more common that I have read?
Also, I find conflicting arguments about who St. James actually is. He is conclusively NOT St. James the Greater, but some say he is the Less, AND the brother of the Lord, some differentiate and claim that St. James the Less and St. James the Brother are two different persons. At some point, the blurring doesn't matter too much, I suppose. I recently read about St. Parascheva (Romania, Serbia) and there were at least three different women saints in the Eastern Tradition called St. Parascheva and the third's relics are the ones specifically venerated in the Metropolitan's Cathedral Iasi. I suppose that each perhaps had their patron saint's name as their name, and therefore because of their relationship it makes perfect sense to confuse them at times. This writing from Hegesippus is interesting.
Pray for me.
I'd like to be present at a Divine Liturgy that used the Liturgy of St. James. I have read that it was actually written by St. Cyril of Jerusalem, and while originally used in Jerusalem and Antioch before being replaced by the Liturgy of Sts. Basil and Chrysostom, it is used today primarily in Oriental churches, and only occasionally in Eastern churches. The Liturgy of St. James is, however, referred to as being one of the three Antiochene liturgies. I'd love to hear it, if I could find an Eastern church using it. Is this more common that I have read?
Also, I find conflicting arguments about who St. James actually is. He is conclusively NOT St. James the Greater, but some say he is the Less, AND the brother of the Lord, some differentiate and claim that St. James the Less and St. James the Brother are two different persons. At some point, the blurring doesn't matter too much, I suppose. I recently read about St. Parascheva (Romania, Serbia) and there were at least three different women saints in the Eastern Tradition called St. Parascheva and the third's relics are the ones specifically venerated in the Metropolitan's Cathedral Iasi. I suppose that each perhaps had their patron saint's name as their name, and therefore because of their relationship it makes perfect sense to confuse them at times. This writing from Hegesippus is interesting.
Pray for me.
12 October 2010
to-die-for
11 October 2010
update
*edited after reading over. Sinus infection equaled statements such as "we are not mold" and "this recipe is fast friendly" when clearly it is not fast friendly. Edited
Sociology is really quite boring. I can't stand it, honestly. Especially the parts that relate to teaching children. I've homeschooled. I've been homeschooled. Reading that the best positive socialization a child receives-and the most important-is in his or her peer group AT SCHOOL just makes me want to giggle. It's all well and good until you remember that we are all individuals and do not all fit in some theory or mould. And schools here (I cannot speak for other countries or societies) are often terrible environments to boot. It's probably the most tedious set of courses I will take in teacher education, especially coming from my background. Granted, I admire some of the viewpoints and theories proposed by sociologists, but I certainly wouldn't want to be them and only have such theories as my legacy.
Moving on, that's school and it's less than interesting. Concerning faith, we were enrolled as catechumens 2 weeks ago and I hope to learn more than a lot in the next year or so before we are chrismated. Thank God for our godparents and especially our children's godparents, and for our priests.
I am missing homeschooling but there are extenuating circumstances which lead to me state positively that my older kids are in a great school with great teachers and are at a great advantage in their personal lives as well. Their high marks make me insanely proud and their teachers have commended me on how well they've been taught. I have plenty of time to spend with my little ones and that is also terrific. Elijah and I are working on preschool skills. He has absolutely no interest in the alphabet or letter sounds (groaning and fussing when I bring out anything to do with reading), so we are taking a break from letters, and looking at colors, numbers, thinking skills, and playing in the dirt (his favorite activity).
I made Irish soda bread recently for a sweet baby boy's baptism and it is FANTASTIC, and also can be made fast friendly. Yum! Here is the recipe (add raisins for extra drool-worthiness!):
Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups unbleached flour, plus extra for dusting
1 3/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (pour 1 tbsp + 1 tsp vinegar in a measuring cup; add enough milk to equal 1 1/4 cups)
1. Sift the flours, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until evenlt dipersed.
2. Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the buttermilk. Use a wooden spoon to stir in the flour to form a softm crumbly dough.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly until smooth, up to 3 minutes.
4. Shape into a flattened round, about 6 in. across and 2 in. thick. Dust w/ flour. Cut a slash 1 in. deep across the top, then another to form an X.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 400Ffor about 35 minutes, until hollow sounding when tapped underneath. Cover w/ dish towel, then cool on a wire rack.
Sociology is really quite boring. I can't stand it, honestly. Especially the parts that relate to teaching children. I've homeschooled. I've been homeschooled. Reading that the best positive socialization a child receives-and the most important-is in his or her peer group AT SCHOOL just makes me want to giggle. It's all well and good until you remember that we are all individuals and do not all fit in some theory or mould. And schools here (I cannot speak for other countries or societies) are often terrible environments to boot. It's probably the most tedious set of courses I will take in teacher education, especially coming from my background. Granted, I admire some of the viewpoints and theories proposed by sociologists, but I certainly wouldn't want to be them and only have such theories as my legacy.
Moving on, that's school and it's less than interesting. Concerning faith, we were enrolled as catechumens 2 weeks ago and I hope to learn more than a lot in the next year or so before we are chrismated. Thank God for our godparents and especially our children's godparents, and for our priests.
I am missing homeschooling but there are extenuating circumstances which lead to me state positively that my older kids are in a great school with great teachers and are at a great advantage in their personal lives as well. Their high marks make me insanely proud and their teachers have commended me on how well they've been taught. I have plenty of time to spend with my little ones and that is also terrific. Elijah and I are working on preschool skills. He has absolutely no interest in the alphabet or letter sounds (groaning and fussing when I bring out anything to do with reading), so we are taking a break from letters, and looking at colors, numbers, thinking skills, and playing in the dirt (his favorite activity).
Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups unbleached flour, plus extra for dusting
1 3/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (pour 1 tbsp + 1 tsp vinegar in a measuring cup; add enough milk to equal 1 1/4 cups)
1. Sift the flours, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until evenlt dipersed.
2. Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the buttermilk. Use a wooden spoon to stir in the flour to form a softm crumbly dough.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly until smooth, up to 3 minutes.
4. Shape into a flattened round, about 6 in. across and 2 in. thick. Dust w/ flour. Cut a slash 1 in. deep across the top, then another to form an X.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 400Ffor about 35 minutes, until hollow sounding when tapped underneath. Cover w/ dish towel, then cool on a wire rack.
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